Fiber stripping and cleaning machine.



-S. 0. DICKINSON. FIBER STRIPPIN G AND CLEANING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 16, 1907.

900,494. 7 Patented Oct. 6, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

i lvwantoz S. 0. DICKINSON. FIBER STRIPPING AND GLEANING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 16, 1907.

Patented Oct. 6, 1908. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

vwzntoz 'dne 0D l'cil $275021 Wihwaaeo 15! y UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

smiIEYo. DICKINSON, or MANILA, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS."

FIBERjSTRIPPING AND CLEANING- MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 6, 1908.

Application filed July 16, 1907. Serial No. 384,084.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIDNEY O. DICKINSON,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Manila, Philippine Islands, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fiber Stripping and Cleaning Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improved fiber stripping and cleaning machine especially adapted for usein stripping and cleaning the fiber of hemp, and it consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of devices hereinafter described and claimed.

One object of the invention is to provide improved means for stripping the fiber.

Another object is to combine with the fiber stripping means means for pulling the stock and exerting even tension thereon to prevent the breaking of the weaker fibers;

A further object is to combine with the fiber stripping mechanism, scraping and cleaning means of improved construction to remove the pulp and juices from the stripped fiber and prevent the fiber from being in-. jured by the souring of such juices.

A further object is to provide, in combination with the stripping and scraping or cleaning mechanisms, means for drying the stripped and cleaned fibers prior to the discharge of the same from the machine.

A further object is to provide an improved machine, of this character which strips the fiber without breaking the same and enables fibers to be obtained.

i l n the accompanying drawings :-Figure l is a perspective view of a fiber stripping ,and cleaning machine embodying my invention, Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the same, Fig. 3 is a-vortical 40 transverse sectional view of the same, taken on the plane indicated bythe line 33'of Fig. 2, Figs. 4 and 5 are detail elevations of the serrated strippin knives.

The frame 1 may be of any suitable construotion. At the front end of the frame and supported upon suitable cross bars 2,

i with which the frame is provided,is a horizontally disposed feeding table or plate 3, which extends longitudinally of the frame 1 forra suitable distance from its front end and also extends transversely of the frame from side to side thereof. The said table orv plate is provided with suitable openings 4 of suitable size and appropriately spaced apart, the said. openings being here shown as longitudinal slots.

ingblade 7 and the secondarilyacting blade 8 are provided at their lower edges, which bear on the plate or table 3, with serrations, the serrations of the blade 7 being larger than those of the blade 8. The lower edge of the blade 9 is plane. It will be observed .by reference to Fig. 3 that the serrations of the blades and 8 bear on the'plate or table points between the openings therein.

Closely behind the table or plate 3 is a the former disposed above the latter. The axle or shaftof-the roller 12 is journaled in fixed bearings 13, which are secured on the frame 1.' Said roller is provided at one end of its axle or shaft with a suitable pulley 14 for engagement by a suitable power belt,.

whereby said roller may be rotated to cause theroller 11 to also rotate by bearing there-. on. v The shaft or axle of the roller 11 is journaled in bearings 15, which are vertically movable in guide standards 16, which are secured on and rise from the sidesof the work it is to perform. The primarily actpair of fiber pulling or feed rollers 1112,

frame. Thesaidguide standards are provided with bearing screws 17, which bear upon the upper sides of the vertically mov- I able bearings 15 and may be adjusted to cause the roller 11 to bear with any desired degree of pressure above the lower roller 12.

At a suitable distance in rear of the prime acting rollers 11 and 12 is a pair of similar rollers 18- 49, the former above the latter. The bearings 20 for the lower roller 19 are fixed. The bearings 21 for the upper roller .18 are vertically movable'in vertical guide standards 22, which guide standards are provided with adjusting bearing screws 23 to regulate the pressure between said rollers 18 and 19. For the purposes of this specification the rollers 18 and 19 are termed secondary pulling rollers. The lower rollers 12-19 are connected by an endless carrier belt 24, l

' the. said belt also serves to impart rotation to the rollers 18-19, as will be understood. Any other suitable means may, however, be employed to rotate said rollers and I do not limit myself in this particular.

In rear of the secondary pulling rollers 1819 is an inclined bed 24, here shown as supported on'a cross bar 25 and having side plates 26 which are attached to the sides of the frame. A scraping blade 27, which is preferably made of wood and has its lower narrowed edge plane, is supported at its ends ina pair of inclined guides 28.

A lever 29 is provided for raising and lowering the frame 6 and the stripping knives which it carries. Said lever is attached to one end of a rock shaft 30, which is journaled in bearings 31 at the upper ends of the guide standards 5 and is provided with rock arms 32. Said'rock arms are connected by links 33 to the arms or standards 10 of the stripper blade frame. It will be understood that by means of-said lever 29 and its connections the stripper blade frame may be raised or lowered to raise the stripper blades or lower the "same to cause the same to press with any desired degree of force on the plate or table 3. The scraping blade 27 may be raised or lowered by means of a lever 34. The said lever is attached to one end of a rock shaft 35 which is journaled in bearings 36 on the sides of the frame 1 at a suitable distance from the rear end of said frame. Said rock shaft is provided withrock arms 38 which are connected by links 39 to the said scraping blade 27. Said scraping blade when lowered bears against the inclined bed 24 and maybe caused to exert any desired degree of pres- .sure on the fiber which has been treated by the strippingknives and fed to said inclined bed by the primary and-secondary pulling rollers and the-carrier 24. In rear of the said bed 24 is a pair of discharging rollers 40 41, the foriner above the latter and having verticallymovable bearings 42 whichoperate in guide standards 43. The bearings 44 for the lower roller 41 are fixed, as shown. In rear of the lower discharge roller 41 is the upper end of an inclined receiver 45, which serves to convey the stripped and cleaned fiber to any suitable receptacle. The upper endof the-said receiver is here shown as attached to a pivot rod or bar 46, which has its bearings in .the'sides of the frame 1. pivotally .connected, as at 48, to the said receiver at a point near the lowerend thereof and operates in a guide and detent 49. The said seg ment bar 1s serrated on its lower side to provide teeth 50, which by engagement with the lower side of said guide and detent co-act therewith to support the said receiver at any i' desired inclination.

The rollers 40-41, in addition to erformmg the function of discharge r0 lers for drawing the fiber between the scrapin blade 27 and bed 24 and thereby causing said blade to scrape and clean the fiber, also act as driers. In practice the said rollers 40-41 are maintained in a heated condition by any suitable means and at a suitable temperature. For the purpose of this specification the rollers 40, 41 are shown as hollow'and provided with perforated pipes 40, 41 to discharge steam into such rollers to maintain them at the required temperature. The roller 41 is here shown as provided with a pulley 51 for engagement by a suitable power belt, whereby to rotate said roller 41 and hence also the roller 40 which operates thereon.

-, The operation of my improved fiber strip-' ping and cleaning machine is as follows: The hemp strips, after they have been initially prepared in the customary way, are placed on the plate or table 3 under the stripping knives and with their rear ends far enough between .the rollers 11 and 12 to be firmly gripped between them, the said stripping knives being raised while thus placing the hemp-strips and being lowered on the same after the ends of the hemp strips have been thus gripped between the said rollers. The machine being then started the rollers 11 and 12, being rotatedin the directions indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2, serve 'to'pull the hemp strips between the bed or plate and the lower edges of the stripping larger than those of the blade 8 the hemp strips are treated by said blades successively, the blade 8 serving to divide the fibers more finely than the serrations of the blade 7. Said blades, in addition to dividing the fibers, serve to strip the pulp therefrom and serveto press the pulp from the fiber, the pulp, which is thus pressed from the fiber, passing through the openings 4 in the plate or table 3. The plane stripping blade 9, which acts last on the fiber, serves to remove such pulp therefrom as escapes the said serrated blades. It will be observed that the prime acting pulling rollers 11 and 12 are disposed closely in rear of the co-acting stripping knives or blades and plate or table, so that they catch the fiber closely behind the rearmost stripping blade 9 and prevent such tension from being exerted on the fiber as to break the same. The rollers 18-19 engage the fiber at a short distance behind the rollers 11 and 12 and also serve to pull upon the fiber, the conjointaction of the said sets of rollers being such as to exert the pulling tension on the fibers at various points of the length thereof, so that the fiber is under sub stantially uniform tension from end to end while passing throu h the machine, is engaged at a number 0? points, is not subjected at anyoint' -to destructive tension, and hence said fiber is not broken and passes through the machine and is discharged theresocialfrom entirelengths,fwhich is a very ma-l terial lmprovcment and produces ,fiber fine quality. After passing between the fiber is-directe downwardly by m" and 24 and under .the scraping blade 27. The, action of the said scraping, blade is such as to clean such-pulp as may still adhereto the 'fiber therefrom. .After passin V the said scraping blade, the fiberpasses etween the rollers 40-41, which .serve to. discharge the same and-to facilitate the. action of the said 1 scraping blade, and the 'saidjfrollers beingv maintained in a heated condition, as herein' is claime as new, is:--

before stated, serve to dry .outisuch pulpta'nd juice as may still adhere to the fiber, was to a entirely'rid the fiber-of 1theflpu1p and juice andprevent injuryto thefibenby the action v to the lower discharge end of said bed, means to adjust said blade and means in rear of,- said bed to discharge the fiber therefrom y also by the movementimparted to the" fiber by the -pulling'rollers over the inclined bed "2. In a machine of theclass described, the combination of a plate or table having openi'ngs, a plurality of-stripping blades to bear orig-the same and having serrations at their edges varyingin size-in the respectiveblades, and means to pull the stock between said late or table and the bearing edges of sai blades.

3,111 amachine of the class described, in combination with fiber-stripping and pulling mechanisms, an inclined. bedto which the fiberg -iisffed by' the pulling mechanism, a scra iiig blade also inclined and converging to-t' e lower :dischar e end of said bed, means" to adjust said b ade, means in'rear of said bed to discharge the fiber therefrom and a'ljl'i inclined receiver in rear of such dischargiiigY-means and. provided with means whereby the inclination of such receiver may be varied'.'--'

4.; ,In a machine 0f thedescribed, in .coinbination with fiber stripping and pull-.

i115 mechanismsa bedi-to' wh chthe fiber is fc" jqjby the pulling mechanism, 'a scraping blade to bear on said bed, means'tdgraise'and ilower said scraping blade andmarythe pres- {sure'? thereof, and heatin and drying in" rear of said bed .an I- scraping -.b

' rear ofv-saidg'beil and ade engaging the fiber 1n scraping blade.

in'presen'ce of two witnessesl l. SIDNEY O. DICKINSON.

:'- Witnesses: V a

B. DRUMMOND, I

.VInN'rE SALVDORE.

rollers In testimony whereof, I 'aliizg signature 

